Professor Mark Hetzler of UW Mead Witter school of Music illustrating the Doppler effect by playing trombone out of a moving vehicle.

Last spring I had the great privilege and pleasure to collaborate with Professor Steve Meyers and local Madison band Mr. Chair on a geoscience lecture about the origins of planet earth. For the past ten years Steve has been thinking about how to better teach geoscience in ways that more people can relate to. Over the years this often lead him to think about the intersections of geoscience and art, since many people relate to art more readily than hard science (and who can blame them). As a Teaching Assistant for his geoscience 100 course last spring, we quickly realized we shared this common interest.

As much as I adore geoscience, a greater passion of mine is visual media. Fortunately for me the two intersect in wonderful ways. When Steve learned about my love of communicating science thorough visual mediums, he introduced me to his idea for “Beginnings” and asked if I’d like to be a part of it. As luck had it, last spring was also the first time that the class was taught in Agriculture Hall 125, which is a turn-of-the-century style lecture hall that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Naturally it made a fantastic venue for what he had in mind.

Over the ensuing weeks Steve collaborated with Mr. Chair, a local Madison band, and commissioned them to write original music for his “4 act” lecture on the origins of earth. Steve recruited me as Director of Photography for the project which entailed shooting footage to be used within the lecture itself, as well as shooting and editing a “teaser” video of the live event. The final product was recently published in a press release by the University of Wisconsin and serves as the first official product released by Tadada Scientific Labs (website coming). With another semester of geoscience 100 coming up quick, we’re already thinking about what the next installment will look like! #teaser

I was recently listening to a podcast, Mrs. Greens World, where her guests were two gentlemen that I greatly respect and admire. Namely Jim Richardson (Nat Geo photographer) and Dennis Dimick (Nat Geo editor). In the episode they discussed the Anthropocene Epoch. And let me just say, when one of my favorite photographers starts dropping geo language, I pay attention. That said, this post isn’t even about the Anthropocene Epoch. As much as I’d love to dig more into the that, I’m going to focus on something else that they discussed in the episode. Jim and Dennis both spoke about growing up on farms and more generally being raised in relationship with nature. For Jim it was his family farm in Kansas and for Dennis his parent’s sheep farm in the Willamette Valley in OR (I’ll take the latter). Both spoke about spending lots of time in touch with the land via farming, gardening, camping and simply playing outside. They spoke about it, though, as if children these days don’t get play outside… at all. While I think they’re absolutely right with respect to the average child, listening to them made me first, thankful for my own childhood where playing outside was a huge part of growing up and second, reflect on a recent camping trip I took with my older brother, sister-in-law , wife and niece. I loved watching Luci (my niece) run around, play with rocks, and constantly make up games. At one point she and I were running ahead of “the army” to deliver a “very important” message to the queen. I never learned why it was so important, but there was no doubt that it was of the utmost importance that we find the queen. Unfortunately for the queen, PB&Js happened first.

In their 2018 paper, Nijhof et al. focus on long-lasting negative childhood chronic diseases and discuss consequences that are “likely the result of a reduced possibility for play in these children.” They go on to discuss “play” as “multidimensional” and describe the five dimensions of play: “(1) highly active games such as chasing, rough-and-tumble play and play fighting, (2) pretend and socio-dramatic play, (3) language play, (4) social play and games with rules and (5) and construction play”. While they don’t discuss it directly, I struggle to see where youtube fits into the equation.

The recognition of the importance of playing and getting outside is not at all a new one, and yet there is no arguing that children today play less, especially outside, than their predecessors. Why is that?

While I won’t pretend to have the answer, I do have a wonderful niece that I’ll continue to play with ever chance that I get, because her health now, her health as an adult and subsequently the health of the society that she grows up into depends on it more than we know.

All day Luci’s imagination fabricated hostage situations, magic objects, entire story-lines that seemed to flow forth from nothing and just as quickly become something entirely different. It was beautiful. I found myself envying her creativity. How a simple piece of sandstone, in concert with a pine branch, could become the key to not drowning as we floated down the Nile River on my brother’s Thermarest.

I think this is precisely the type of behavior that Jim and Dennis suggest is an uncommon commodity these days. In an age of smartphone entertainment where the entertainment industry is pivoting to videos that last no longer than 30 seconds because thats the average limit of a child’s attention, children aren’t challenged to be creative. According to a NY Times article, the average age that a child gets their first smartphone has trended younger and younger (no surprise) and currently sits at around age 10.

Last time I blogged on this website was quite a while ago. Since then lots of life has happened, including but not limited to, getting married, grad school… yep, that about sums it up. Long story short, I’m going to try and get back into the swing of things (as they say). I’m currently in my second year of my M.S. of Geology program, so I don’t know about the frequency with which I’ll be able to post, but my hope is to be better about it. So this is my semi-public (“semi” because I don’t expect to reach much of an audience having been silent for a while) declaration that I’m back at it.

Photos and videos from the past couple of years to come… Teaser: this includes media from a month of field work in Wyoming and a trip to New Zealand among other stuff!

Cheers,

-Ethan

Me after a month of field work in Wyoming this past May. Yes, those are overalls. #comeatmebro #overalls4thewin

Time is a fickle thing. Despite living in Thailand for 6 months of the past year, my time there feels like an eternity ago. Putting together this video has been a difficult endeavor. First, its been tough simply finding the time to do so, more significantly, however, revisiting my time there has been emotionally taxing. As anyone who has forced themselves out of their own comfort zones knows, there is a freedom, a liberation of self found beyond that threshold. It becomes particularly notable when you return to find that threshold further out than it previously was. Naturally, that experience is an emotional one. Sifting through my hours of footage to compile this 5 minute video has been a condensed revisitation of that emotional journey punctuated by the fact that my time in that incredible country is a thing of the past. This video (like most of my videos) serves more as a selfish and narcissistic diary of my time than anything else. For that reason I'd like to thank those of you who do watch it for taking the time to empathetically glimpse an experience of mine that will forever be an important one in my life.

Returning from Thailand has been a whirlwind of reverse culture shock. In a matter of 2 weeks I returned to CO--while my girlfriend went home to OR--walked back into my job for corporate America and moved into and apartment in Denver. Needless to say, its been a bizarre and abrupt transition from Thai time to American time (and I mean that with respect to more than just timezones). About 5 days after getting back I needed to escape. I was dealing with everything pretty well, but I needed to decompress. So I took my cameras to the mountains. Spending time documenting beautiful things is not only one of my favorite things to do, but I also find it epically cathartic. It just so happened that I escaped on a perfect night for some astro-photography. No clouds and a new moon made for a bitterly cold but beautiful night. Having spent the last 6 months at 0ft. of elevation, spending the night at 12,000ft. was a bit taxing. Some minor altitude sickness and general chill aside, I sorely needed the mountainous medication.

I have to apologize for not keeping up to date on my blog and website here. I'm currently experiencing some pretty frustrating computer issues i.e. random shutdowns, overheating, possibly some RAM issues, graphics issues and a couple other things. I'm doing my best to trouble shoot things while living in a place without any IT stores let alone computer people that speak english. Just today i tried to find a can of compressed air to clean out my fans and was unable to do so. Its looking increasingly like i'll have to wait to get home to really diagnose this issue(s) and even then it might be a new computer for me... which i might not be able to afford immediately. As such I apologize for the fall off on my website and other such social media spheres.

A while back Marika posted a "Day in the life" post in our travel blog (https://ethikaoutandabout.wordpress.com/). It inspired me to put together a "day in the #teacherlife" video. While the video by no means captures the happenings of everyday, especially the crazy stuff (i.e. the snake in my classroom today), it serves to illustrate the goings on of an average day for me. Hope you enjoy!

While revisiting Phraya Nakhon Cave last weekend I was fortunate enough to encounter a family of Dusky Langurs while hiking up to the cave. Equipped with only a fujifilm X100t, which has a fixed 35mm prime, I was not set up well for wildlife photography. Regardless, I followed the shy little monkeys around the forest for a while before this one let me approach a little closer. This photo was taken about 5 feet from the little guy a moment before he decided that I wasn't to be trusted and scampered up the tree.

This timelapse is a glimpse into what teaching english in Thailand is like. The lack of audio leaves a significant element of the chaos out of the picture, but I hope to remedy that in my coming video "A day in the Life: #teacherlife".

Last week I had the opportunity to join an anti-drug awareness march with some Thai high schoolers. Drug use, especially tobacco, is a big problem here in Thailand. Cigarette use is common if not expected for people as young as 12 years old. The students all made anti-drug picket signs and banners, and lead by the school marching band, hit the streets of Amphawa.

Architecture is a globally recognized art. Its a symbol of culture and history across cultures around the globe. One of my favorite things about visiting new places is seeing art from that place, architecture being one of my favorites . In the US, architectural design and creativity is often a display of status. Big companies make big, beautiful buildings. On smaller scales, those well enough off to design their own homes, take that liberty. In Thailand, the same is not true. In Thailand it seems that every ounce of architectural effort is put into temples. Buildings that do not honor a person, or a company, but a deity. The number of temples in Thailand is pretty astounding, but every one of them is a work of art.

Wai Kru day is a day where teachers are honored by their students in Thailand. It's not, however, like National teachers day in the US (where only a handful of people know when it happens). Wai Kru day is a day recognized by all and presided over by several monks, when students present their teachers with gifts of fantastically elaborate flower art and and other smaller tokens. This is just one example of the appreciation that teachers in Thailand have and that teachers everywhere should be given.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of witnessing a pretty stunning sunset over the Mae Klong River in Amphawa, Thailand. While the video I made is only a fraction of the full sunset, I still felt the need to share it.

At this point, the top of the mountain erupted with monkey cries. Monkeys began materializing out of nowhere. Before I knew it I was surrounded by nearly 100 of them all jumping and screaming at the one who was now stranded on top of the temple.

The first post on any blog is always an awkward declaration of something or another. For my last blog initiation, I posted about how my mom would likely be the only person to read the blog. While the same holds true for this blog, this blog also serves as a platform for me to document my thoughts on certain things. In all likelihood, I'll simply share and write about photography of mine, but in all honesty, I don't know what this blog will become, or where it will take me. Until then, I'll keep clicking my shutter release.

The Instant Gram

My last post was about stopping to appreciate a sunset. Despite the simplicity of that, my point was that few of us actually do. I’d wager that even less of us put in the effort to stop (or rather get up) and appreciate a sunrise. @geogal217 and @camstabatch taught me a lesson in sunrise appreciation last March when they charged out into the chilly waters off the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand to get an eye-level view of the rising sun.
#ethancparrish #sunrise #stopandlook #appreciation #newzealand #oceanview #sunriseoftheday #godisanartist #southernhemisphere #nikond750 #nogeotag

When was the last time you stopped and took the time to sit and appreciate a #sunset ? I’ll be the first to admit that i don’t do it nearly as often as I should. I am, however, glad that I stopped to take this one in over the sage desert of Wyoming.
#ethancparrish #wyoming #beautiful #timelapse #taketime #paintedsky #fieldwork #nikond750 #godisanartist #justrelax #behindthescenes #bts #nogeotag

Despite being on the rainy side of the South Island of New Zealand, we managed to grab a gorgeous day to drive up the coast. Fun fact: the rivers on this side (west side) of the island are some of the most erosive on the planet. This is largely due to the sheer volume of precipitation in both liquid and solid form that falls here annually. Until recently the glaciers in NZ were among only a handful of mountain glaciers on the planet still advancing. Many climate change skeptics cited this fact as evidence against climate change. In fact it was the incredible volume of precipitation engendered by orographic effect among other things that allowed the glaciers to be as healthy as they were in a warming climate. #ethancparrish #nikond750 #glacialgeology #newzealand #geologyrocks #climatechange #climatechangeisreal #scienceiscool #rivers #erosion #glaciers #westcoast #westcoastbestcoast #orographic #precipitation #nz

Here’s a hump for #humpday! More accurately, is a septarian concretion or locally cemented mud/sandstone bound by minerals concentrically precipitating out from a central point. Subsequently, the uncemented and thus much softer mud/sandstone around these “humps” has eroded away leaving these concretions sitting on the beach. Arguably the most famous in the world, these boulders, locally known as the Moeraki Boulders are found on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. As you can imagine they are the subject of rich Māori legend given their bizarre and alluring existence. Astoundingly, even today in the age of pocket knowledge, tourists argue about their origin. I heard one man tell his partner with enviable confidence that they’re lithified “whale gall stones”. Can’t fault creative thinking! Haha. •
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#ethancparrish #fujifilmx100t #moerakiboulders #newzealand #southisland #nz #geology #maori #beautiful #concretion #geologyrocks #pocketknowledge #creativethinking #hump #natgeotravel #natgeoyourshot

Sometimes I just can’t think of a good caption for a photo. Feel free to help me out on this one ☝️
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#ethancparrish #newzealand #nocaption #needsacaption #geologist #bandw #b&w #nikond750 #fieldtrip #moodytuesday

Maybe @allisondeanjones was thinking about the fascinating geology of the Chrystal’s Beach melange with its prolific exhibition of slicken fibers as that’s what we’d been talking about for the 3 hours leading up to this shot. But I like to think she was contemplating other things or maybe just taking a moment to appreciate how beautiful this planet is as she gazed out over the southern ocean off the coast of the South Island of New Zealand. #ethancparrish #nikond750 #thinkdeep #geologyrocks #chrystalsbeach #slickenfibers #structuralgeology #oceanviews #appreciatebeauty